PANIC AND PANIC DISORDER IN THE UNITED-STATES

Objective: The goal of this study was to determine the prevalence of D SM-III-R panic disorder and to describe its correlates. Method: The st udy was part of the National Comorbidity Survey, the first psychiatric epidemiologic survey of the entire U.S. population and the first to u se DSM-III-R criteria for diagnosis. The 8, 098 survey respondents, ag ed 15-54 years, were given the Composite International Diagnostic Inte rview. For this report, the data on panic were analyzed, and from them the prevalence of panic disorder and related experiences in the U.S. population was estimated. Results: About 15% of the survey respondents reported the occurrence of a panic attack over their lifetimes, and 3 % reported a panic attack in the preceding month. About 1% met the DSM -III-R criteria for panic disorder in the month preceding the intervie w. Panic attacks and panic disorder had a bimodal age distribution and were associated with female sex and lower educational achievement. Fi fty percent of the survey respondents with panic disorder reported no symptoms of agoraphobia. The pattern of prevalence of correlated socio demographic factors was similar for persons with panic attacks, panic disorder, and panic disorder with agoraphobia. Conclusions: There appe ars to be no obvious threshold for the diagnosis of panic disorder. Pa nic disorder and agoraphobia, although highly comorbid, also occur sep arately.